The Treasury Secretary chimes in on what any market watcher should know instinctively. Mnuchin talks tech: 'I don't understand these valuations', yet the price on promises and future expectation of earnings has a large amount of the equity speculators and computerized
trading in a crisis of sanity. Avoiding the fundamental relationship that a stock value is based upon the ability of a company
to turn a profit, has become the hottest investment hoax since Bernard Madoff was pitching his Ponzi scheme. Uber, Snapchat
and Twitter may be high flyers for the smart set, but for rational venture capitalists, plunking down gambles on risky enterprises
that only feed on publicity hype is a sure bet on going broke.

There is not a single American alive that has a recollection of a time without a Federal Income Tax.
Yet, the country existed and prospered greatly before the constitution was perverted to fleece the pockets of Americans. As
with most deceptive schemes to defraud, the sales pitch seldom resembles the reality of the final outcome. The fact that the
excessive growth, reach and scope of the District of Criminals government has developed into an oppressive empire during this
time, is no accident.

For all those sun baked brains that see salvation in renewable nirvana, the imminent demise of SunEdison
is the latest case that creative green economics is the path to insolvency. After studying the tangled web of cross collateralization
and rehypothecation of debt, the WSJ announcement is inevitable, SunEdison Said to Be Preparing to File for Bankruptcy. “Solar-energy company SunEdison Inc. plans to file for bankruptcy protection in coming weeks, a dramatic about-face for a company whose market value stood at
nearly $10 billion in July.”

Economists and professional investors follow the Baltic Dry Index because it is a leading indicator
on the forecast for international trade. A week ago this gauge hit an all time low. Since then a small upturn has moved the
index upward slightly. Hellenic Shipping News observes in Baltic Dry Index climbs to 349, up 7.

The test run proved that negative interest rates can push savers into minus territory. Public outrage, while registered is not heard by the central bankers. The reasoning
that commercial banks will start making loans because of the cost of sitting on deposits is pure fantasy thinking. As the
article, Low Interest Rates Impoverish Savers shows,

The joy of driving was once an important part of the American Dream. Take to the open roads meant freedom
and adventure. The utilitarian objective of moving from one place to another just does not seem to possess the same romance.
As with all reminiscences of the past, the lingering memories like to keep the good times close and block out the troubles
when possible. This same trait can be applied to the distinctly national love affair with the auto. But as with all things,
times move on and many in the tech community believe that the next advancement in land travel will come from an AI revolution.

When the international financial press presents their standard explanation for the panic decline in
the Chinese stock market, most want to tamp down the acute apprehension that the long awaited global depression is now at
hand. Well, the International Business Times in their account on the China Stock Markets, makes a very insightful appraisal.

What does a CEO do when the economy is in a persistent down turn and your business cannot expand or
grow? Jump at the time tested strategy of acquisition to gain market share seems to be the response in 2015. Yet a merger
is no sure thing. Anyone remember AOL’s deal to buy Time Warner. How did that turn out? Just how much additional efficiency
can be squeezed out of any company? In the era of part time contract workers and low wages, all the fat has been long gone.
As for research and development in new technology or products, how will such innovation be marketed in an economy infatuated
with the promise of Amazon Prime drone deliveries?

The usual holiday cheer that underpins the throngs of shoppers may be missing this season. Political pundits are eager
to blame potential terrorist risks as a compelling reason to avoid the crowds at malls, but knowing the sentiments of the
consumer culture, it is difficult to accept that retail businesses will be empty. Nevertheless, will the economy incentivize
the bargain hunters to brave the added security obstacles to storm the doors for the reward of super discount pricing?

What are the consequences for Social Security in an economy where fewer and fewer workers have a job?
Add in the tax burdens that come to comply for Obamacare coverage and it is difficult to see where all the needed new employment
will come from to keep funding the government Ponzi scheme? Government apologists will just compose a new “Washington
Two Step” routine to dance around empirical facts, but just maybe part of their next choreography will be to allow even
more illegal’s pay into Social Security so that the transfer system can continue.

Even to the casual observer, the financial condition of government budgets are under severe stress.
Taxes have gone up consistently and have outpaced any meager adjustments in income for most taxpayers. No one can reasonably
expect that municipal financing is assured by simply raising assessments and rates to keep their bloated bureaucracies solvent.
Since the middle class has never recovered from the money centered meltdown, the average community struggles with diminished
resources.

The paradox in the question of who wins in a currency war presupposes that any participating combatant
can actually claim victory. If winning means ending up with the most cash, when the value of the money as a store of tangible
wealth is debased, it is doubtful anyone can be declared the victor. The absurdity of lowering the purchasing power
of a countries currency to enable exports to be more competitive is economic sacrilege that the heretical “Free Trade”
mythos is based upon. Without a reliable standard of objective comparison, floating currencies maneuver their exchange rates
to disguise internal imbalances in their own political and economic expenditures.

With the approval vote in the United Nation Security Council of the P5 + 1 Iranian agreement, a smorgasbord
of eager trading partners claw themselves out of the woodwork. The liquid black gold rush is on. With the rescinding of sanctions
put into motion, over time the wheels of commerce will be put back on track. No matter what the U.S. Congress does, the flood
from international trade will start making deals with Iran.

The lethargic performance of the U.S. economy going back decades and plunging into an embedded depression,
since the financial meltdown of 2007, has caused permanent damage. The business community and the financial press have yet
to acknowledge that prospects are not going to improve. It does not take a commercial genius or an academic professor to look
around at the shrinking middle class and conclude that the lessons of the preverbal business cycle no longer apply. In order
for any economy to prosper, the fruits of commerce must improve the financial conditions of the producing contributors.

The quandary of the economic dilemma continues. A globe suffering from a deflationary financial impact,
while consumer prices rise well above the reported cost of living increases, does not bode well that prospects of commercial
growth can rescue the world economy. What changes can overcome this predicament? Well, some academic scholar’s offers
serious concern that a long term rebound towards prosperity is no longer possible.

The working poor suffer disproportionately from the offshoring of high paying jobs. The upsurge an hour
in the minimum wage economy is the net result of a consorted effort to lower the standard of living of not just the struggling
impoverished but for all scrambling households. When the communist manifesto advocated a progressive income tax, the proletariat
was supposed to get a sliver of social justice. Just how well did that hogwash turn out?

Remember the stagflation years? Maybe the current world economic environment is just in an enduring
lethargy awaiting the bottom to fall out. Seldom has flat performance lingered as long as it has. Meaningful expansion, under
a zero interest rate strategy has failed. Even much lower oil prices have not jump- started the engine of growth. Prospects
for an upturn and a return to producing constructive activity still seem to be years away. Or is this a permanent outlook
that baffles business executives and frustrates creative entrepreneurs. For the rest of us, waiting and hoping for a viable
economy has become wishful thinking at best.

The announcement that Federal government’s tax-take hits all-time high as the federal government collected a record amount of taxes in fiscal year 2014, topping $3 trillion in revenue for the
first time in its history, has the tax man taking a bigger bite than ever. Yet, the take that the collection bureau seems
un-phased from all their scandals to put the taxpayer through their third degree audits are easing up. Why? The answer may
surprise when the ledger is tallied up.